Latest / Huddle Up! / Huddle Up! Season 1 Episode 6
Transcript
- Paul Durham: Hello and welcome back to Huddle Up the Wilson Times Sports Podcast. This week I've got some volleyball on tap. Hunt is hosting Fike and probably the biggest rivalry matchup in volleyball in several years. And with me right now are Fike's first year head coach, Krista Barbrey and sophomore Bailee Barbrey her daughter. And there we're going to talk a little bit about Fike's big start. Now, tell me, Krista, you came over from Elm City Middle and you have coached many of these girls before. So I gotta ask you, how surprised are you at fly out to an eleven and two star? Krista: surprised at all. This group of girls is it's a talented group. and they've when they started working out this summer they just really started gelling together. So the fact that we came out hot doesn't shock me at all. Paul Durham: Well, Bailee, what do you think has been the key to Fikes good play? Because you've got a lot of new faces. You played J V last year. I think Brylan Harris came over, she's new. Obviously you've got some freshmen that have come up. What's been the key to y'all being so so tight and winning eleven matches so far? Krista: Yes, sir. We put we spend a lot of time in practice and we really put all of our good our good talent together and we play as a team. And we work on our connections for our hitters. Paul Durham: Well, I will say this, you guys are pretty good at moving the ball around and setting up, you know, the the the kills from obviously Elle was is a talent at the net, but she's not the only one. You guys are getting it done in a lot of different places. I gotta ask you back to Coach Barbrey what do you think about the Big East? 'Cause it's been quite a run for you guys. I think you're just coming off a loss to CB Aycock That's five teams that are pretty good in that conference. Krista: Yes, the Big East is a strong conference. and I've been telling the girls, you know, Northern strong, southern strong, CBA Aycock was strong. I know Hunt will be will be strong as well. We can't we went and watched the them play Northern the other night, but I tell the girls every week, like us coming out so hot too, we're getting everybody's best every single game. So we always have to be on our our A game. We can't take take a day off. And I think C B Aycock the loss there stung a little bit. they might have needed that a little bit to to get more motivated that, you know, we've got to come to play every single day. Paul Durham: So Bailee, what happened against Aycock as you were on the floor there? They they beat y'all in three, but they were all super super tight sets. What happened in that match and what are you guys gonna take from that going into the hunt match? Krista: Yes, sir. We honestly just had a bad game, but it's okay because we're gonna come out hot on on Tuesday. We didn't run the offense w the way we should have, but things also went really well. Like our defense, we saw a big improvement on our defense. Like we had we had ninety digs against CBA cock. And that's really Paul Durham: Wow. Krista: good. Paul Durham: Well, you gotta find those positives and things, and you'll see them again. Now let's talk about Hunt. This is gonna be a big matchup. You guys are 11 and 2. You haven't won, I think the last time you had a winning record was in 2022 with Coach Jeff Nelson, 12 and 11. Fikes saw volleyball is off to a great start. Hunt's done really well, but this it's really been Southern Nashes conference the last few years. Krista: Yeah. Paul Durham: but Hunt obviously is unbeaten in the first place, so you know who you gotta beat. What is the key to beating Hunt? Because they don't seem like they make a lot of mistakes. Krista: Our key is going to be to try to keep them out of system. I mean they have they have some big hitters at the net, they have girls that know how to place the ball and so our our job is to gonna be try to to keep them out of system, which means we have to run our offense and swing and attack as much as we can so that we don't just send balls over that they can cream back in our face. Paul Durham: Well, Bailee, what do you think is the when when you got when things aren't going well for y'all, what is the problem or what has seemed to be the problem? Krista: I feel like when things aren't going the way that we think it should go, we we reset and we realise it's just one set at a time and one point at a time and it's okay to lose a set or two because we're always gonna come back stronger. Paul Durham: Well, I feel like and having never played volleyball other than in the backyard, which is not real volleyball, but it's a sport of momentum. And as someone who pla has played it and is a ser very serious volleyball player, how do you deal with those momentum swings and trying to stymie the other team's momentum and build your own and kind of get things back on track? Krista: Well, when when we do good, like we get an ace or something, our team we we hype each other up to build momentum and then that that carries over to the other team and that'll bring their momentum down. Paul Durham: Well, you guys have done a really good job of s keeping the momentum. I've seen you play a couple of matches, one against South Central, I think, very early on. It was very rare for Wilson teams to beat teams from Pitt County so decisively. And I think that really sort of set the tone. Now, this obviously you guys have played a lot of volleyball already. And Coach Barbrey this one's for you. How do you guys I mean, this is the middle of the season. This is a big match, and it's almost like every time you guys go on that court. You've got a big match and you certainly have had it lately. How do you keep that your players focused and ready to play without getting kind of overwhelmed by Krista: We take it one day at a time. We take it one set at a time, one point at a time. Every time that the ball's being served at us, we're always like, first ball, first ball, it's first ball, one pass. we really try I try to teach them like we have to slow the game down and play it play our game. it's really easy sometimes when you're playing teams and you know, things can get hectic back and forth, back and forth. And I always tell just bring the ball back down, set it up, run our offense, just play You know what we've been working on, play our game. It's always play our game. Paul Durham: Well that is the key. So Bailee, what's your last thought heading into this big match up against Hunt on Tuesday? Knowing that you're gonna see him at least one more time. Krista: We're excited. We we have done a lot of well, at least I have. I have done a lot of film review and I've been watching almost every game that Hunt has played. And I know exactly what we need to do. And we're gonna go out and we're gonna execute that. Paul Durham: All right. Well, we're looking forward to a big matchup. The hunt gym ought to be pretty packed. hopefully it's not going to be a million degrees like it was this week. but I think this is going to be a big exciting match for Wilson volleyball. So look forward Krista: Yes. Paul Durham: to seeing you guys both there on Tuesday. Krista: Okay. Paul Durham: All right, now I'm back with Hunt High Head Coach Matt Lemons and Junior McKenzie Collins and the first place Hunt Warriors, I should say, because now they are 5-0, went through all but one game of the first turn of the Big East unscathed. And what a wild and still standing after a wild week in the conference last week. And I just wanted to get some thoughts from both of you guys, starting with Coach Lemons. What do you think has been the best quality for your team so far this year as you've gotten off to such a great start? Eleven and three overall, five and in the Big East. Matt: I think the biggest thing is that we challenged ourselves early. We played some really good games early on with Corinth Holders and Bunn, a very scrappy Green Central team. And our girls were battle tested going into conference and I think that helped because we've ha we've had some big games in conference 'cause there's a lot of teams that are really good and when we've been in tight games late in the sets, we've managed to come on come out on top quite a bit, so I think the fact that we've challenged ourselves the whole year it's really helped us in these close g close games. Paul Durham: McKenzie, going into this year, you guys had finished, I think, fourth your first year at Hunt in the Quad County's last year. I think that was the Johnston County schools were the big rivals. And then last year came over to the Big East where Southern Nash had been doing really well and they dominated again. This year it really seems up for grabs, wide open. You guys have won all your matches so far, but there's been s a lot of crazy results. going into this season, did you foresee this in this conference? Did you expect it to be this kind of upside down with literally five teams in the running for it? Matt: I did because the way that there's new players coming in. There's a lot of like talented freshmen coming in and I knew with us that we had a lot of strengths to be top in the conference. But I also knew that these other schools had the same thing. But I think that we have a lot of good pieces for us and I think that really helps. Paul Durham: Well I gotta ask you, you are a Springfield alumnus and then it's a big old pipeline from Springfield and Coach Kat Alphin's program over to hunt. And it seems like most of the girls there, not all of obviously some came from Forest Hills and maybe other places. but what's it been like sort of carrying on that Springfield tradition when you switch from green and gold to blue and silver? Matt: really love it because I've played with a lot of these girls that I'm playing with now. So I think it's really cool that like I played with them and now they're back playing with me again and we're doing so much better than we did at Springfield. And it's crazy to see how much we've all grown since then. Paul Durham: Well, Coach Lemons, tell me your thoughts on the Big East Conference this year. We talked about it before. Obviously, there's no real chance to sort of take it easy in this conference. Did you foresee this coming after Southern Nash had dominated last year? Matt: Well, I've told the girls at practice quite a bit. I feel like any given day there's four teams in this conference that can beat us if we're not on our Ps and Q's during that game because it's a it's a deeper conference this year than we've had previously and heck, any Nash County school, C B Aycock, anybody can upset you if you're not ready to play. Paul Durham: All right, let's talk about Hunt Fike. This is the biggest Hunt Fike volleyball game I can remember in a few years. Fike is 11 and 2. They haven't won this many games since they went 12 and 11 in 2022. they've been exciting. Obviously, you guys have been sort of more consistent, but first time back in first place, I think, in a few years. for you, Coach Lemons, obviously McKenzie you were still in middle school then winning championships at Springfield. What do you think about this Fike matchup, McKenzie, as you go into a lot of new faces over there, but I'm sure you are familiar with most of them. Matt: I'm excited. I think it's gonna be a really good game and I think we are really prepared for them. I think that we've had a lot of competition and that definitely gives us an advantage because we're we're coming ready to play and I think that we we know what we have to do to win. Paul Durham: Lemons, what do you think about this matchup? It's a lot of excitement. Obviously Fike needs to win a lot more than you guys do. you could survive a loss if Fike loses. I don't know how good their chances are to win the conference will be, but obviously there's still a lot of volleyball left to be played. Matt: Well, I mean, yeah, any time hunt and Fike matchup in any sport, it doesn't matter if it's volleyball, football, basketball, soccer, you I mean you wanna win the in county matches. But I think I tell the girls all the time the most important game is the next one. It doesn't matter if you're playing Fike, it don't matter if you're playing Southern Wayne, it don't if it's Southern Nash, whoever. Because if you want a shot to put a number on the board for conference champions in twenty twenty six, every single game carries equal weight and you've got to make sure you win that next match. Paul Durham: How is it going to be to s get everybody to stay sort of on the same level of intensity that the big east is going to demand without wearing yourselves out? Because it seems like this I mean, you know, last week was crazy. This week's probably gonna be nuts too. and then the week after. So is it a good preparation or are you worried about a mental drain because there's a lot of mental game in volleyball? Matt: I don't think so. I mean, Mackenzie, correct me if I'm wrong, but sometimes the more intense the game is, the better they play. Yeah, I agree. So I don't think it's gonna be a mental drain or nothing. Paul Durham: Well that seemed to be the case when you guys played Northern Nash because that was a huge game and you guys sort of reacted flawlessly. And I think that was the key that you guys do not beat yourselves. You don't make many errors. And that's been sort of a hallmark, I think, of this team, certainly this year, you gotta keep it up. Matt: Well, not not anymore. Yeah. Paul Durham: What do you mean not anymore? Matt: Yeah, 'cause early on in the season we were having about sixteen serving errors a match and a lot of hitting errors, but we have cleaned that up drastically as of late. Paul Durham: Well, one thing I can take away from your season to date is that Bunn must be really good because they beat y'all twice, three A Wildcats, and then you lost to Cor seven A Corinth Holders, also a big time volleyball program. So I mean the the games, the matches you lost weren't bad losses at all. I haven't even looked at the RPI yet, but I'm assuming you guys are pretty high up. Matt: Right now I think we're number two in the five A East. Paul Durham: Yeah, I knew you were top three, but I Matt: So Paul Durham: hadn't checked on it since last week. And it's only gonna it's only gonna stay there because of your conference. Matt: Yeah. I mean we're we had a we had a very, very good non conference schedule because you know the opposition win percentage and the opposition opposition's win percentage for us is very high in both categories. So we're I don't think we will drop so much. Paul Durham: Yeah, I think you're right. Th that's the key because once you get in the conference, everybody's playing each other. And in your league, I think everybody schedules pretty well out of conference too. I mean, I know Fike plays South Central twice. Their you know, their opponent's winning percentage is going to be pretty good. obviously Bunn is a pretty good team. I keep an eye on them for the rest of the year. So All right, Makenzie So what's the key for this hunt team to keep doing what it's been doing? Matt: We gotta stay together. I think we've done a really good job of playing together as a team and communicating really well. We've brought our energy up a lot and I think that we play so much better when we're having fun together and I think that's what we're gonna continue to keep doing because we're looking forward to the rest of the season and we're having so much fun playing together. Paul Durham: All right. Well, I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and I'm having so much fun watching you guys play in Fike and Southern Nash and Aycock and all the schools. This has got to be one of the better 5A volleyball conferences in the state. So I want to thank both of you guys for taking time out of your busy day to talk with me. Good luck Tuesday against Fike and hopefully we'll talk to you a little later this season. Matt: sounds good. Thank Paul.